jack kirby
It’s Jack Kirby’s birthday, and everybody is celebrating!
Jack Kirby would have been 95 today, and celebrations are breaking out all over the comics blogosphere. Here’s a quick guide; feel free to post more links in comments.
• Tom Spurgeon, as always, has a comprehensive lineup of panels and pages and videos.
• Follow the Twitter hashtag #WakeUpAndDraw today to see birthday cards created by 100 different artists to benefit The Hero Initiative, which will auction off the originals in the near future.
• Today’s a good day to buy yourself some comics: Kirby’s granddaughter Jillian Kirby has started the Kirby4Heroes campaign, in which comics stores donate a percentage of their sales from today to The Hero Initiative.
Art Barrage | Dan Quintana’s Batman, Ian McQue’s Dredd and more
By now, everyone’s bound to have seen Matt Fraction’s Fantastic Four Tumblr, yeah? The writer is publicly working out his background reading for taking over the comic those of us of a certain age still see as Marvel’s flagship, and it’s highly entertaining. My favorite of all the panels Fraction has flagged up so far has been the one above, which you could imagine being slapped around town on a sticker by Shepard Fairey. Andre the giant has a posse, and it includes Professor X. Much more art, including work by Dan Quintana, Ian McQue, Warwick Johnson-Cadwell and Tim Hamilton, below.
‘Lost’ Jack Kirby comic unearthed … in France
Here’s a bit of lost comics history that presents a bit of a puzzle for Jack Kirby fans: A comic strip that was ghosted by Jack Kirby.
Writer and filmmaker Jean Depelley was chatting about Jack Kirby with comics historian Bernard Joubert after a screening of Depelley’s documentary Marvel 14: Superheroes vs. Censorship, when Joubert mentioned a Davy Crockett story by Kirby that had run in France in the 1960s. Depelley thought this might be the stories Kirby drew for Harvey Comics’ Western Tales in the mid-1950s, but Joubert insisted it looked like a daily comic. And indeed, after doing a bit of digging, Joubert has concluded that Kirby was the ghost artist for a three-week run of the syndicated comic strip Davy Crockett, Frontiersman, written by France “Ed” Herron and originally drawn by Jim McArdle.
After Kirby’s brief run, Jim Christenson took over the art. The Kirby strips are not signed, but Depelley concluded that they were penciled by Kirby and most were inked by him as well. Apparently they were reformatted and published in the French comic Zoom, and Depelley leaves it to collectors to unearth the original American strips.
Joe Kubert and the early days of creator-owned comic books
Retroactively owned by Joe Kubert
The legacy of Joe Kubert is rich and varied, from his school to his work on Sgt. Rock, Hawkman and other DC Comics properties. But one aspect of his career isn’t often a focus: He was among the first comic book professional to own his own character, predating the current creator-owned movement by more than 50 years.
The prehistoric Tor first appeared in 1,000,000 Years Ago #1, published in 1953 and edited by Joe Kubert and Norman Maurer. Its contents were owned by the book’s publisher, St. John Publications. But then in 1958, St. John abandoned comics and simply turned the rights to Tor over to Kubert.
How did he pull that off? By asking. As Tom Spurgeon’s obituary at The Comics Reporter explains, “Kubert said that receiving the copyright on Tor was as simple as requesting from the heir to the St. John publishing enterprise that the copyright be returned to him after the publisher had moved away from comics. The legally appropriate person provided a letter doing just that.”
If only it were that easy now!
Conversing on Comics with Steve Rude
When Steve Rude made his comics debut in 1981, you could almost hear a sigh in comic shops nationwide as readers first witnessed his skills. In his creator-owned Nexus (with writer Mike Baron), Rude showed a timeless pop-art mastery of the human form that combined the kinetic energy of Jack Kirby with the shape of classic Renaissance artists. Over the years he’s been lured from time to time into doing work-for-hire for DC Comics and Marvel, but it’s Nexus that has been the backbone of Rude’s professional career. After a brief attempt at self-publishing Nexus in the mid-2000s, Rude and Baron returned to their previous publisher Dark Horse to continue their epic story, with new Nexus adventures debuting earlier this year in Dark Horse Presents.
But while Nexus might be Rude’s magnum opus, it isn’t his only passion. A few years back he challenged himself to learn classical painting, and he’s incorporated that into his breadth of work while teaching others in a series of intensive workshops. The artist continues to be prolific on the comics art market, doing a number of original commissions, from sketches to fully painted pieces, for fans. He’s maintained an active presence online, posting frequently on his blog and on his Facebook page and showing off a number of original pieces that never see print.
I spoke with Rude late last month by phone, and what I wanted to talk to him about wasn’t Nexus or whatever new comic cover he’s doing next, but rather what’s behind the art — and inside his head. He’s well known for expressing his opinions and standing up where others might back down for a freelance assignment, and is the single comic creator I know of whose first professional comics work — in his case, Nexus — is still his signature work and something he does to this day. People are talking a lot today about creator-owned comics, and Steve Rude’s been doing it for more than 30 years.
Look at these jam pieces by Joe Kubert and many, many others
As the comics community continues to process the news of Joe Kubert’s death, everything else feels very secondary. One way of honoring the legendary artist and teacher is by appreciating his art, and the art of his peers. Steve Niles discovered this series of art jams featuring a Kubert Hawkman alongside Wendy Pini’s Elfquest characters, Neal Adams’ Conan, Dave Cockrum’s Human Torch, and others. The rest of the jams include characters drawn by C.C. Beck, John Romita, John Byrne, George Perez, Gray Morrow, Dave Sim, Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, Curt Swan, Jim Aparo, Milton Caniff, Hal Foster, Al Williamson, Chester Gould, and the list goes on and on.
I don’t know the history behind these pieces, but it occurs to me that many of these comics legends are still with us. In addition to saying our good-byes to Mr. Kubert and offering appreciations of his work, another great way to honor his legacy might be to reach out and express similar appreciation to living creators whose work we love.
Comics A.M. | Kirby4Heroes campaign to benefit The Hero Initiative
Jack Kirby
Organizations | Jillian Kirby, the 16-year-old granddaughter of Jack Kirby, makes a pitch for Kirby4Heroes, a campaign to encourage donations to The Hero Initiative on Aug. 28, which would have been the legendary creator’s 95th birthday. [Los Angeles Times]
Comics | Roger Rautio, who’s spearheading an effort to establish a physical Comic Book Hall of Fame, said he’s received responses from officials in four cities — Chicago, Cleveland, New York City and San Jose — and he may meet with a Chicago city council member as early as next month. [North Country Now]
Creators | Cartoonist Reinhard Kleist discusses his graphic novel The Boxer, the true story of Polish Jew Harry Haft, who had to fight other prisoners at Auschwitz for the entertainment of the Nazi soldiers. [Deutsche Welle]
Comics A.M. | Mark Waid celebrates 25 years in the industry
Mark Waid
Creators | Although he almost missed the anniversary, Mark Waid celebrates 25 years as a comics professional by recalling his first day of work at the DC Comics offices: “If you’re wondering what an Associate Editor does – or did in 1987 – I’ll list my job duties those first two days. Ready? Here we go: I erased Green Arrow pages. Eight hours a day for two days.” [MarkWaid.com]
Publishing | DC Comics’ Senior Vice President of Sales Bob Wayne and Vice President of Marketing John Cunningham are pretty upbeat about DC’s most recent graphic novels — with some justification, as a number have made The New York Times graphic books best-seller list. “Batman: Earth One has been a runaway bestseller for us, even better than Superman: Earth One,” Wayne said. “People are familiar with the Superman: Earth One title and we don’t have explain what the new book is about.” [Publishers Weekly]
Previews: What Looks Good for October
It’s time once again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for cool, new comics. Michael, Graeme, and Chris Arrant have each picked the five new comics we’re most anticipating in order to create a Top 15 of the best new comics coming out two months from now.
As usual, please feel free to play along in the comments. Tell us what we missed that you’re looking forward to or – if you’re a comics creator – mention your own stuff.
The Golden Age of DC Comics: 1935-1956
Graeme McMillan
The Golden Age of DC Comics: 1935-1956 HC (Taschen, $59.95): If you were as jealous of everyone who could afford the mammoth 75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Myth-Making from a couple of years ago as I was, here’s some great news; Taschen is reissuing the material in a series of different (cheaper) volumes, reworked and expanded with new art and commentary by Paul Levitz. The next in the series, covering the Silver Age, is the one I’ll really covet, but you know that this will be awesome.
Julio’s Day HC (Fantagraphics Books, $19.99): Continuing my education in all things Love and Rockets, this never-collected Gilbert Hernandez strip from the second series of L&R is one of those things that goes on my “Want” list almost as soon as I discovered it existed.
Multiple Warheads: Alphabet to Infinity #1 (of 4) (Image Comics, $3.99): I’ve been waiting for more Multiple Warheads since Oni Press put out the first issue a few years back. Now that I know it’s 48 pages for just $3.99 and in color, it seems worth the wait. Brandon Graham is an amazing talent.
Sailor Twain HC (First Second, $24.99): I dropped off Mark Siegel’s amazing webcomic online fairly early, promising myself that I’d get the inevitable collected edition when it was all done and read it in one sitting. I’m glad it’s finally here.
The Zaucer of Zilk #1 (of 2) (IDW Publishing, $3.99): Without doubt, my favorite superhero comic in years – I read it in its 2000AD incarnation – I am overjoyed to see this get a US release like this. Hopefully, everyone will read it and realize just how great Brendan McCarthy and Al Ewing are, leading to all manner of zequels (sorry, I couldn’t resist).
Third annual Read Comics in Public Day is Aug. 28
From Read Comics in Public Day 2011
In case there were any doubt, Brian Heater has confirmed that the third annual Read Comics in Public Day “is on like Ultron.” Once again, it will be held Aug. 28, commemorating the birthday of Jack Kirby, who would have turned 95 this year.
What’s Read Comics in Public Day, you ask? It’s a worldwide event established in 2010 by Heater and Sarah Morean to encourage fans to promote the medium by, well, reading a comic book in a public place.
What Are You Reading? with Megan Lavey-Heaton
Batgirl #11
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. This week our guest is Megan Lavey-Heaton, the writer and co-creator of the ongoing fantasy webcomic Namesake, along with artist Isabelle Melancon.
Food or Comics? | Tales Designed to Sizzlean
Parker: The Score
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a splurge item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.
Graeme McMillan
While the offerings on show at my local comic store this week won’t compare with those available at Comic-Con International, if I had $15 this week, I’d pick up Sean Murphy’s Punk Rock Jesus #1 (DC/Vertigo, $2.99), the new Bloodshot #1 (Valiant, $3.99) and the final issue of the enjoyable Kirby: Genesis #8 (Dynamite, $3.99); the first for the art alone (I know very little about the story, but Murphy’s art is always worth checking out), the second for the high concept, and the third for the payoff that I know is coming from Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross and Jack Herbert’s resuscitation of the King’s concepts after following the series thus far.
That said, if I only had $30, I’d put both Punk Rock Jesus and Bloodshot back on the racks for another week, and add Darwyn Cooke’s new Parker adaptation, Richard Stark’s Parker: The Score (IDW, $24.99) to my pile, instead. Cooke’s Parker books are consistently must-buys, and I can’t see why this one would be any different.
Chris Wisnia brings back Kirby-style monsters in Monstrosis
Before Reed Richards ever convinced his friends to join him on a rocket trip to outer space, and before the Avengers ever assembled, their co-creator Jack Kirby had spent years at Marvel working on a different kind of mutated comic: monsters. And although Kirby may be gone, others have proudly pushed on in his stead, and now an upcoming graphic novel by Chris Wisnia is lofting the freak flag one more time in a Kirby-infused panorama of man versus monster.
Released by the fine folks at SLG Publishing, the graphic novel Monstrosis: The Giant Russian Monster Conspiracy has Wisnia taking his intrepid photojournalist character Doris Danger into the belly of the beast — literally — when she goes out to uncover the truth about monsters. Along the way she’s bound to meet “the world’s greatest actor” Dirk Doole, Army Commander Luke Luggash and a librarian-turned-behemonth known as … Pootwah.
Although Wisnia might be a veritable unknown in comics circles, his pop Kirby art homage recalls the King himself … and Wisnia has enlisted a few modern greats of his own in the form of guest inkers like Mike Allred, Herb Trimple and Bill Sienkiewicz, and pin-ups from everyone from Neal Adams to Simon Bisley.
This seems like a unique weekend read, celebrating Kirby’s epic style in the hands of someone new and reveling in insane monster wackiness.
Grumpy Old Fan | The resurrection of Paul Kirk
He hunts the world's most dangerous game!
Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson’s “Manhunter” was the story of Paul Kirk, a big-game hunter, ex-superhero and retired covert operative who was killed by a rampaging elephant and revived by the mysterious Council. Dedicated to world domination, the Council also created enforcers out of Kirk’s clones, and trained them all to be unstoppable assassins. Kirk rebelled, of course, earning the Council’s wrath; and that’s where the main story picks up.
The seven-part serial ran in Detective Comics #437-443 (October/November 1973-October/November 1974). Appearing initially as an eight-page backup feature, its final chapter was a full 20 pages, not coincidentally because it guest-starred Batman. As such, the whole thing would fit in an 80-Page Giant with room to spare, but it is full of tight, dense storytelling that encourages multiple readings. Among other things, it received a total of six Shazam awards from the Academy of Comic Book Arts: Best Short Story (“The Himalayan Incident,” 1973; “Cathedral Perilous,” 1974), Best Writer (Goodwin, 1973-74), Outstanding New Talent (Simonson, 1973), and Best Feature-Length Story (“Götterdämmerung,” 1974). It was one of Simonson’s first big projects, and his early work combines a raw, organic quality with energetic, propulsive layouts. Each short chapter packs a full issue’s worth of plot, character, and action into its eight pages, and the finale makes a regular-length issue feel like an annual. Even Batman’s potentially-distracting involvement helps distinguish Kirk from DC’s garden-variety masked men. You’ll want to read it slowly to catch all the details, but it’ll keep you turning pages to find out what happens next.
Food or Comics? | Team Cul de Sacher torte
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a splurge item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, Volume 3: High Noon at Inferno Gulch
Chris Mautner
If I had $15, Casanova: Avaritia #4 would be the first thing I’d pick up. I’ve been enjoying Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba’s return to their dimension-hopping super-spy immensely and am looking forward to seeing how it all wraps up.
If I had $30, I’d make the difficult choice between two top-notch offerings from Fantagraphics this week. One: New York Mon Amour, a collection of Manhattan-themed stories by the one and only Jacques Tardi, including the Kalfkaesque “Cockroach Killer.” The other would be the third volume in the ongoing Mickey Mouse collection, High Noon at Inferno Gulch. I’m an unabashed Floyd Gottfredson fan, so the Mickey book would probably win out. But I’d be sure to save my coins for next week so I can get the Tardi book then.
Assuming I don’t blow all my splurge dough on the Tardi book, there’s a number of solid options here: Out of the Shadows, a collection of Mort Meskin’s early non-DC work; Bill the Boy Wonder, a new prose biography of Batman co-creator Bill Finger; and a Challengers of the Unknown Omnibus featuring Jack Kirby’s run. If I were in a charitable mood, however, I’d likely snap up Team Cul de Sac, the anthology/art book/tribute to Richard Thompson’s delightful comic strip featuring contributions from folks like Lynn Johnston, Mort Walker, Gary Trudeau and even Bill Watterson! Proceeds from the book go to help fight Parkinson’s disease, which Thompson unfortunately suffers from. It’s hard for me to think of a more worthy – or potentially enjoyable – book to spend your money on this week.